Worthy
by MonaBee
Summary: Artemis Crock falls in love with Dick Grayson. Artemis doesn't fall in love with Robin. A little Traught love story.


A/N: I have been stuck on this idea for the past couple of days and needed to get it out so here it is, the Traught fic no one asked for :D

Inspired by the fic Split-Brain Syndrome by Adreus and the song One and Only by Adele from which the title is derived.

Have fun!

* * *

 **O**

* * *

Artemis is not the kind of person who really _does_ relationships. She doesn't make friends easily and it hasn't ever been a problem.

At least, not until now.

Now she's somehow inexplicably found herself _friends_ with playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne's ward. An impossibly rich, scrawny mathlete – one Richard Grayson.

Well, she wouldn't really call them _friends_ exactly. More like, acquaintances who happen to tolerate each other. It's a _work in progress_ at the best of times.

She's not exactly sure when they started this tentative friendship. She supposes that it mostly took work on his part rather than hers. He just, well, opened doors for her.

Literally.

He always managed to find a way to get to their Sophomore Trig class just before she did and just kind of let her go in first.

He grins at her, more of a smirk than a grin and sweeps his arm wide. "You first, milady," He says, both sincerity and humour melding together in his voice. It's just the right mix that tells her he isn't just making fun of her.

"Um, thanks, uh…" She feels kind of awkward forgetting his name, especially since he looks so very familiar. He just casually herds her into the classroom.

"Dick, Dick Grayson." He says. Artemis bites back the first response that comes to mind and smiles hesitantly. The grin that envelops his face right then and there seems so familiar it scares her.

The first couple times he does it, Artemis just shrugs it off as coincidence. _He's just a nice guy. That's all._ But then he does it in their Calc class as well, and then Chemistry and suddenly Artemis finds herself sharing a lunch table with him every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. (Which, she later learns, are the days when he doesn't have Mathlete meetings during the lunch period.) Barbara Gordon joins them a lot of the time, and Artemis likes her. She's bright and charismatic, and she and Dick can talk for ages. It helps, since Artemis isn't much of a talker herself.

Despite the fact that Dick is only thirteen, there is a trophy case in the West Wing of the school that's basically dedicated to him. Artemis asks him about it once out of curiosity. He just shrugs.

"Hey," he says, that infuriating grin right at home on his (admittedly cute) face, "Gotta pay homage to the guy who basically owns the school. This way it looks less conspicuous." And she assumes he means Bruce Wayne. Her scholarship giver and Dick's pseudo-father. For a moment she's jealous that Dick gets that, the riches and the fame. But she sees the tired set of his shoulders and never misses how he always seems to work twice as hard as anyone else she knows – even the scholarship kids.

She's hesitant about it, but she lays a hand on his shoulder and gives a soft smile. He smiles in return.

"C'mon then Arty, I'm sure Babs is dying of boredom without us."

* * *

He's still only fourteen, but sometimes Artemis finds herself looking at him a bit more than is probably socially acceptable. She's not the only one though, so she's justified. He's gotten taller over the last couple months, and broader around the shoulders. He's still shorter than her, but only by an inch or two, and he doesn't fail to point this out at every possible moment. She still snarks at him.

"You'll be taller than me when pigs fly, Dicky-boy."

He just grins that wicked grin of his and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Guess pigs'll be flying sooner rather than later, Arty."

It's winter now, and Gotham winters are always colder than anywhere else for some reason. While Dick's coat is thick and something designer (Burberry, she thinks. Babs mentioned him owning a lot of Burberry) hers is shabby and a hand-me-down from Jade that she'd left behind before she left. She's _cold_ but trying not to show it. Her scarf is just about the only thing that is actually making a token effort to keep her warm, and probably only because it was a birthday gift from Robin. Artemis still doesn't know how he knew she needed one, but chalked it up to him being a Bat and left it at that.

Robin had always been perceptive anyway.

Dick is similarly perceptive and tugs on her icy hand, leading her into a coffee shop. Artemis silently thanks him.

Their waitress seems to recognize Dick, a more and more frequent occurrence as they get older. Thankfully she doesn't squeal or gape, and merely smiles really widely when she takes their order. Artemis represses the urge to slap the grin off the girl's face.

When the dessert comes it's all worth it.

"So," Artemis says once she's downed the little piece of heaven that is Baklava, "You get this a lot?" She's pointing at the cell number hastily scrawled on the bottom of a napkin under Dick's plate. He shrugs, sipping his coffee.

"Every now and then. It's not a common occurrence." He admits. Artemis calls bullshit, but she doesn't press. Dick's always been _visible._ On the news, in the papers. You aren't Bruce Wayne's ward without being a socialite. That's one part of Dick's life Artemis will _never_ be jealous of. He never fails to complain about the endless Charity Balls and the press.

When they leave, Dick leaves the napkin on the table.

He takes her hand as they walk out.

She doesn't mind.

* * *

It's not exactly a whirlwind romance. They go through the 'new relationship' stage just like everyone else does. It's awkward and strange and hesitant. He holds her hand when they walk to places, she kisses his cheek if they split ways for class, there's the occasional chaste kiss when no one's looking, but that's about it.

At this point though, they are far past the 'new relationship' stage.

They're both young, and hormones rule their lives. Dick is fit – like, _really_ fit. Broadening shoulders and rock-hard abs and the kind of calves people die for – and he doesn't make a job of hiding this around Artemis. At least not when they're alone. She's no slouch either, she knows, and Dick makes sure to tell her that whenever he can. (Although in more _flattering_ terms).

He knows how to get to her, how to make her come undone underneath his fingertips. They haven't gone all that far yet, but they've pretty much got making out down to a fine science now. She'll bite his bottom lip and he'll nip at her collarbone and they'll pull each other's hair. She can categorize his groans by intensity and sound now. Though she's a bit of a dominant type, she doesn't mind playing submissive to Dick on occasion. He loves making her happy, and she loves it when he makes her happy. So it's a win-win situation.

They can still be tender when they want to be. When Artemis is exhausted from a bad patrol with Ollie and Dick is swamped with work, they just lie together on Dick's very comfy sofa as a tangle of limbs, and watch sappy old movies. Their favourite is Singing in the Rain, which admittedly they try once. It was actually pretty fun.

Some days Dick just lays his head in her lap and closes his eyes and she plays with his hair. It's in these moments that Artemis feels her heart clench for him. This boy she may have accidentally fallen in love with. She knows that civilian-hero relationships are complicated. She thinks – no, she knows she could tell him about her other life without hesitation. She trusts Dick, without a doubt in heart. She contemplates telling him everything, not just about her vigilante status, but also of her family. But Dick is so pure and untouched by that world. She wants to keep him safe from it all, so she refrains of from telling him everything. Maybe, when everything has blown over, she will then.

* * *

Artemis clutches at her side and groans, back sliding down the wall. She's alone in a dark alleyway in the middle of Gotham. Far from home. Basically, she's screwed seven ways till Sunday.

Her carefully wrapped ankle throbs with sympathy for the stab wound in her side. The ankle is from a mission with the team, but Robin had taken care of it, splinting and wrapping it with the kind of care she didn't think he possessed. He had been so worried about her, asking if she needed help getting home. She'd declined, obviously, because she didn't need the already suspicious Boy Wonder escorting her back to her apartment building in lower Gotham.

Especially since it was supposed to be in Star City instead.

She's only two blocks from the zeta platform, but she's already in a lot of pain, and in civilian clothes. Fucking dad who had to come out of nowhere and leave her a little present. 'A late birthday gift', he'd said and disappeared into the shadows. She grunts and heaves herself upwards. She knows she can't make it home in this condition. If she can just get to the platform…

But she forgets who likes to have coffee just around the corner, and just as she gets to the end of the alleyway, she's confronted by the concerned face of Dick Grayson. The same Dick Grayson she just so happens to be dating at the moment.

"H-hi Dick," She manages, her words laced with pain. Dick's expression goes funny for a moment before going into a soft, 'it's gonna be alright' smile. Artemis grins back. Before she knows it, she's being loaded onto a stretcher, watching Dick argue with the paramedic before smiling triumphantly and climbing in the back of the ambulance with her. He holds her hand all the way to the hospital, blue eyes – _pretty,_ blue eyes – trained on her every move. He's muttering under his breath in some language other than English and the words roll off his tongue in a soothing way. Before she knows what's happening, she's out like a light.

She comes to to a sight she wasn't expecting. Dick is slumped in the chair next to her hospital bed, hair in disarray and hand still clutching hers. She manages to squeeze it back limply before sighing and let the cocktail of drugs they have no doubt pumped into her system keep her from being completely lucid. For a brief moment she can see Dick out of the corner of her eye and with his usually slicked back hair so messy, he could almost be Robin.

 _Wow,_ she giggles, _these drugs must be pretty strong if they're making me see Dick as Robin._ She succumbs again soon enough.

The next time she wakes up, Dick is too, and he hugs her fiercely.

"Never, _ever,_ die on me. Okay Arty?" He asks, eyes pleading and sincere and so very broken that Artemis could never say no.

"I promise." She says, even though it's a difficult promise to keep in her line of work. He stares at her for a moment longer, something indiscernible in his gaze before sighing shaking his head.

"You sure had me distraught for a while there." He says, unthinking. Artemis bites her tongue and sees it again, the resemblance, the way they both lavish so much attention upon her. _No,_ she tells herself, _don't be irrational._

But a part of her refuses to look at Dick the same way again.

* * *

When it all blows over, she had said.

Well, this was probably as close to 'all blown over' as things could get.

Artemis smiles as a holographic clocked pops into existence above them all, signalling the New Year as they watch the sun rise from the Watchtower. She clenches her hand slightly wishing suddenly for Dick's presence. _I guess I'm going into the New Year without the midnight kiss then,_ she thinks, before she finds herself being spun around by black gloved hand, face staring into the black and white domino mask of one Boy Wonder.

"Robi-?" She asks, before he presses his lips to hers to background cheers from the rest of the group and a muttered 'finally' from someone who could only be Kid Mouth. She smiles into the kiss, the familiar lips, the known hands on her waist, before pulling back. Her grin must look Joker-ish.

"Happy New Year's Arty," He chuckles. She takes his face in her hands.

"Happy New Year's, _Dicky-boy…"_

And they kiss once more.

* * *

 **O**

* * *

Reviews are appreciated 3


End file.
